Product description

A fascinating hobby; a remunerative business; or a globetrotting career? Which type of beekeeper do you want to be? It is entirely up to you: beekeeping can provide it all.Beekeeping can provide anyone with an interesting and useful hobby or a lucrative and rewarding business. It is recognised as a vital agricultural industry and can therefore also offer you a globe trotting career. The whole subject is, however, often shrouded in mystery and loaded with jargon, leaving many people unaware of its true potential or how to start. This book strips away all the mystery and explains step by step how - from day one - you can start beekeeping as a hobby; how you can progress to running a beekeeping business; or how you can start a career as a beekeeper which can quite easily take you all over the world. No other guide explains in such detail the true potential and accessibility of beekeeping or of being a beekeeper. Contents: List of illustrations; List of photographs; Introduction; Acknowledgements; 1. Honey-bees and human beings; 2. Understanding the honey-bee colony; 3. Using the products of the hive and bees; 4. Obtaining equipment and bees; 5. Starting with bees; 6.
The active season: spring; 7. The active season: summer and autumn 8. Dealing with problems; 9. Overwintering your bees: autumn to spring; 10. Controlling diseases and pests; 11. Rearing queens and breeding bees; 12. Exploring products and career possibilities; Weights and measures ready-reckoner; Further reading; International beekeeping organizations; Beekeeping charities; Beekeeping journals;Beekeeping supply companies; Index.

Author information

David Cramp started beekeeping as a hobby in 1991 before spending a year at the Bee Research Unit at Cardiff University. He started a beekeeping company in Spain, producing organic honey, and after 12 years moved with his wife and two daughters to New Zealand to manage a 4000 hive operation, specialising in pollination and manuka honey. David writes for the beekeeping press in the UK, the USA and Spain and is the author of the Beekeeper's Field Guide. He edits the online beekeeping magazine Apis UK and is now starting his own honey bee queen rearing business.

Review quote

'A real pleasure to read. Not only is it an excellent book to get you started but it has plenty for the more experienced beekeeper too. The book is written in a user friendly easy to read style. You don't actually realise that you are absorbing quite a lot of scientific information, but you are. At GBP14.99 that must be a bargain of the year' Smallholder. 'This is a hugely detailed book written in an engaging style. David Cramp has spent over 18 years keeping bees and his expertise shines through every page.' Petfocus.